Strange Maps

MAY 5, 2025

The mountains of northern Laos are beautiful, but tough to negotiate. By car, it can easily take 15 hours to drive the 373 miles (600 km) of winding roads that separate the capital Vientiane from the town of Boten on the Chinese border. Since December 2021, theres a far straighter, much faster alternative: the brand-new high-speed Laos- China Railway (LCR) measures just 257 miles (414 km) between Boten and Vientiane, and fast trains cover that distance in three and a half hours.

Current Connections 119

Current Connections 119

World History Teachers Blog

MAY 5, 2025

Here is a hyperdoc about the Sogdians who played a critical role in the trade of goods and ideas on the Silk Road. It's based on an excellent online exhibit about the Sogdians from the National Museum of Asian Art. The exhibit has four chapters: the Sogdians at Home: Believers, Proselytizers & Translators; the Sogdians Abroad; and the Rediscovery of the Sogdians.

Museum 130

Museum 130

ED Surge

MAY 5, 2025

Bruce McLaren has committed his career to understanding how education technologies, especially digital games and intelligent-tutoring systems, can help children learn. At the Human Computing Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, McLaren develops digital learning games to study how effective they are in the classroom and beyond. One such game is called Decimal Point.

K-12 100

K-12 Education Tutoring Psychology 100

C3 Teachers

MAY 5, 2025

with Tara DeVay In late summer 2015, as I prepared for my third-year teaching eighth-grade social studies in rural Western New York, I balanced many of the challenges that young teachers do: coaching, building curriculum, and searching for more meaningful ways to teach content. While my first two years had gone well, something was missing. The routine of covering material felt stagnant.

Teaching 73

Teaching Museum Primary Sources Professional Development 73

Becoming a History Teacher

MAY 5, 2025

Photo by saeed basseri on Pexels.com Back in March, British tennis player Jack Draper secured his first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells, the biggest title of his career; securing a Grand Slam title now seems likely. Im not an avid tennis fan but my ears pricked up when I heard Annabel Croft’s radio analysis of Draper’s victory, highlighting his improved emotional control, contrasting his current calmness with his junior days.

Professional Development 52

Professional Development Teaching Education Research 52

Anthropology.net

MAY 5, 2025

Hallucinogens and Hierarchy: Power in the Ritual Chambers of Chavín At 10,000 feet above sea level in the Peruvian Andes, stone corridors wind through the ancient ceremonial site of Chavín de Huántar. Built over 3,000 years ago, the architecture still stuns. But its true power wasn’t only in carved granite or megalithic design. It was in the unseen—a ritual world carefully curated by those in charge, where altered states of consciousness became instruments of social co

Research 52

Research 52

Living Geography

MAY 5, 2025

A new Bloomberg UK piece looks at how Iceland plans to turn the volcanoes which have woken up on the Reykjanes peninsula into a positive. The piece by Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir explores how the eruptions are being managed. There are some striking images of the lava in Grindavik, which has been evacuated several times. Geologically, Iceland is turning a corner.

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Living Geography

MAY 5, 2025

The final stage of Mitch Hutchraft's global triathlon will take place on Everest. It's called PROJECT LIMITLESS. It's supported by the clothing company Jttnar. It started with a swim across the English Channel from Dover to Calais. He then cycled from Calais to Digha in India. From there he ran 900km from Digha to Kathmandu. From there he trekked up to Everest Base Camp.

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Political Science Now

MAY 5, 2025

Navigating Potential Pitfalls in Difference-in-Differences Designs: Reconciling Conflicting Findings on Mass Shootings Effect on Electoral Outcomes By Hans J. G. Hassell , Florida State University ; John B. Holbein , University of Virginia. Work on the electoral effects of gun violence in the U.S. relying on difference-in-differences designs has produced findings ranging from null to substantively large effects.

Political Science 32

Political Science Research 32

The Hechinger Report

MAY 5, 2025

For the last four years, school and public libraries have been drawn into a culture war that seeks to censor, limit and discredit diverse perspectives. Yet time and time again, as librarians have been encouraged or even directed to remove books that include LGBTQ+, Black, Latino and Indigenous characters or themes or history from their collections, they have said no.

Library 102

Library Cultures Advocacy Elementary School 102

NCHE

MAY 5, 2025

Rural schools are often the heart of their communities, playing a vital role in the social and cultural life of the areas they serve. Much like rural history itself, these schools are not uniform; each one reflects the distinct circumstances, traditions, and character of the local community. Often operating with limited resources, rural educators have historically relied on community support to meet their needs.

Primary Sources 130

Primary Sources Education Local History Civics 130

ED Surge

MAY 5, 2025

Imagine youre a ninth grader navigating a world where generative AI, agentic AI and other emerging technologies dominate the headlines. The future feels uncertain, so how do you even begin to decide what you want to be when you grow up? Students today are shaping identities that will guide them through careers spanning the decades ahead. This uncertainty can be daunting, but one thing is clear: Foundational knowledge in computer science will be essential, no matter what paths they choose.

Education 65

Education Global Connections K-12 Teaching 65

Anthropology.net

MAY 5, 2025

Somewhere in Ice Age Eurasia, a Palaeolithic knapper leaned over a lump of flint. With a practiced hand, they struck it just so—angle, force, and point of impact carefully judged. The result was a flake shaped with intention, useful and standardized, snapped free with a single blow. For decades, archaeologists have debated how much of this was planned—and how much was just luck.

Archaeology 53

Archaeology Anthropology Psychology Humanities 53

Political Science Now

MAY 5, 2025

Kevin Hunter, University of Tennessee at Knoxville Kevin Hunter is a rising senior and first generation college student at the University of Tennessee, majoring in political science and minoring in social justice. Throughout his college tenure Kevin has been a Deans List recipient all five semesters. He is the Vice President of his universitys Africana Studies Student Association and is a member of the University of Tennessee Success Academy.

Political Science 45

Political Science Social Justice 45

The Hechinger Report

MAY 5, 2025

As the nation plunges deeper into chaos, this moment is testing the values, fortitude and courage of Californias leaders. Our states rich diversity, which has transformed and powered Californias economy, is under attack. The world-class universities that have made California home to innovation are caught in the crosshairs of the Trump administrations agenda.

Education 54

Education Economics Government High School 54

Anthropology.net

MAY 5, 2025

In a craggy fold of the central Zagros Mountains, archaeologists braced against time, weather, and destruction. At Kunakhera Cave 1 — its silence punctured by looters and erosion—they found traces of a world long buried: chipped stone tools, scorched animal bone, blackened hearths. These were not casual signs of occupation. They told a deeper story—of Homo neanderthalensis surviving, hunting, and perhaps even dreaming in the highlands of western Iran some 40,000 to 80,000 years

Archaeology 90

Archaeology Heritage Artifacts Cultures 90

The Hechinger Report

MAY 5, 2025

Some of the biggest names in education research who often oppose each other in scholarly and policy debates are now united in their desire to fight the cuts to data and scientific studies at the U.S. Department of Education. The roster includes both Grover J. Russ Whitehurst, the first head of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) who initiated studies for private school vouchers, and Sean Reardon, a Stanford University sociologist who studies inequity in education.

Research 116

Research Education Education Policy Government 116